{"id":52678,"date":"2026-01-21T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theccc.org.uk\/?post_type=publication&#038;p=52678"},"modified":"2026-01-20T15:00:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:00:51","slug":"letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.theccc.org.uk\/publication\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter: Nigel Topping CMG to the Secretary of State for DESNZ &#8211; onshore petroleum"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":52706,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"publicationtype":[343],"countries":[320],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-52678","publication","type-publication","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","publicationtype-letters","countries-country-0-uk"],"acf":{"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"standard_block","subheading":"Outline","body_content":"This is a letter from Nigel Topping CMG, Chair of the Committee, to Ed Miliband MP, Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">The Climate Change Committee\u00a0(CCC)\u00a0is required by the Infrastructure Act 2015 to provide advice\u00a0to the UK Government on\u00a0the\u00a0likely impact\u00a0of onshore petroleum extraction in England\u00a0on the ability to meet\u00a0UK-wide\u00a0carbon budgets\u00a0and Net Zero. This advice is due every five years.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis letter sets out the Committee's latest advice.\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">Since our\u00a0previous\u00a0advice, the\u00a0Government\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">has committed to a ban on new onshore oil and gas\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">licences<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">.<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0The existing moratorium on hydraulic fracturing\u00a0(shale gas fracking)\u00a0also\u00a0remains\u00a0in place.\u00a0As\u00a0a result,\u00a0we\u00a0have focused this advice on\u00a0practically extractable\u00a0production from\u00a0the existing conventional onshore oil and gas fields in England.<\/span>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"standard_block","subheading":"Key messages","body_content":"<ul>\r\n \t<li>Onshore oil and gas production in England remains small relative to total UK onshore and offshore production, and relative to UK demand.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Onshore production in England accounted for 0.6% of UK gas production and 4% of UK oil production in 2024.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Onshore gas production in England was equivalent to 0.3% of UK gas demand and onshore oil production equivalent to 2% of UK oil demand in 2024.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Associated production emissions remain a small contributor to carbon budgets and Net Zero. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, working with the relevant regulatory authorities, should ensure appropriate policy to facilitate the reduction of production emissions associated with UK oil and gas fields consistent with carbon budgets and Net Zero.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Emissions associated with the consumption and combustion of oil and gas form a significant part of the CCC\u2019s carbon budgets. The Committee gave detailed advice on reducing emissions from fossil fuel consumption across the energy system in our Seventh Carbon Budget advice.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The CCC\u2019s Seventh Carbon Budget Balanced Pathway projects a fall in the direct emissions associated with total UK oil and gas combustion from 303\u00a0MtCO\u2082e in 2025 to 141 MtCO\u2082e in 2035 and 29 MtCO\u2082e in 2050.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Any combustion of oil and gas, regardless of source, would need to remain in line with this (or be offset by reductions in other sources of emissions or by additional greenhouse gas removals) if carbon budgets and Net Zero are to be met.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;"}],"cover_image":52706,"downloads":[{"file":52677,"label":"Download this letter","cover_image":52706}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Letter: Nigel Topping CMG to the Secretary of State for DESNZ - onshore petroleum - Climate Change Committee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theccc.org.uk\/publication\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letter: Nigel Topping CMG to the Secretary of State for DESNZ - onshore petroleum - Climate Change Committee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theccc.org.uk\/publication\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Change Committee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theccc.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Letter-21-Jan-2026.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"616\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"847\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@theCCCuk\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/publication\\\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/publication\\\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"Letter: Nigel Topping CMG to the Secretary of State for DESNZ - onshore petroleum - Climate Change Committee\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/publication\\\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/publication\\\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Letter-21-Jan-2026.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-21T00:01:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/publication\\\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/publication\\\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/publication\\\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Letter-21-Jan-2026.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Letter-21-Jan-2026.png\",\"width\":616,\"height\":847},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/publication\\\/letter-ccc-letter-to-secreary-of-state-for-desnz-21-january-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Publications\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theccc.org.uk\\\/publications\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Letter: Nigel Topping CMG to the Secretary of State for DESNZ &#8211; 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